Coles owner Wesfarmers has rejected truck drivers’ accusations it’s responsible for deaths on the road and has knocked back union pleas for it to support a safety charter.

Ten truckies and two union activists were arrested during a Transport Workers Union (TWU) protest inside a Coles store in Sydney ahead of Wesfarmers annual general meeting on Thursday afternoon.

The protest was one of several the union held across the country to highlight concerns about the pressure on truck drivers to speed and drive long hours with overloaded vehicles.

The union also disrupted Wesfarmers’ AGM in Perth with three members and proxy holders asking the group’s board to sign up to the TWU’s proposed Safe Rates Charter.

TWU branch secretary Tim Dawson said about 300 people were killed in truck-related crashes on Australian roads each year because of unrealistic deadlines placed on drivers by major retailers like Coles.

He said Coles was responsible for more than one million freight movements in the country each year and put a lot of pressure on the industry to cut rates.